Abraham Lincoln High School
Ninth Grade Academy
Principal—Ari Hoogenboom
Assistant Principal, English—Jennifer Baumfeld
Ninth Grade Academy Director, A.P. Science—
Edward Rubinchuk
English/Reading Credit Recovery Packet
ELA Standards
Standard 1 – Students will read, write, and speak for information and understanding.
Standard 2 – Students will read, write, listen, and speak for literary response and
expression.
Standard 3 – Students will read, write, listen, and speak for critical analysis.
GOAL: Readers will examine and respond to two short stories by using active reading strategies, critical
analysis, their knowledge and fluency in literary elements and techniques, and written responses.
Table of Contents:
P. 1
P. 2
P. 6
P. 8
P. 9
P. 10
P. 10
P. 11
P. 13
P. 14
P. 15
P. 16
P. 18
P. 19
Overall goal/instructions
“The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant
“The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry
Task 1 “The Necklace” —Comprehension
Task 2 “The Necklace” —Making Inferences
Task 3 “The Gift of the Magi”—Comprehension
Task 4 “The Gift of the Magi”—Making Inferences
Task 5 “The Necklace”—Multiple Choice
Task 6 “The Gift of the Magi”—Multiple Choice
Task 7 Short Response Questions
Final Task: Critical Lens Essay
Literary Terms
Template for Task 7
Template for Final Task: Critical Lens Essay
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Student’s Name: ___________________________________Block:______English Teacher:_____________
Instructions to Students: Read the short story, “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, and “The Gift of the
Magi” by O. Henry, and complete each of the tasks below. All tasks must be written in complete sentences and
use correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Please note the specific instructions for each task. Attach looseleaf paper OR typed 8 ½” by 11” inch paper for all long responses/essays.
“The Necklace”
Guy de Maupassant
She was one of those pretty and charming girls born, as though fate had blundered over her, into a
family of artisans. She had no marriage portion, no expectations, no means of getting known, understood, loved,
and wedded by a man of wealth and distinction; and she let herself be married off to a little clerk in the Ministry
of Education. Her tastes were simple because she had never been able to afford any other, but she was as
unhappy as though she had married beneath her; for women have no caste or class, their beauty, grace, and
charm serving them for birth or family, their natural delicacy, their instinctive elegance, their nimbleness of wit,
are their only mark of rank, and put the slum girl on a level with the highest lady in the land.
She suffered endlessly, feeling herself born for every delicacy and luxury. She suffered from the poorness of
her house, from its mean walls, worn chairs, and ugly curtains. All these things, of which other women of her
class would not even have been aware, tormented and insulted her. The sight of the little Breton girl who came
to do the work in her little house aroused heart-broken regrets and hopeless dreams in her mind. She imagined
silent antechambers, heavy with Oriental tapestries, lit by torches in lofty bronze sockets, with two tall footmen
in knee-breeches sleeping in large arm-chairs, overcome by the heavy warmth of the stove. She imagined vast
saloons hung with antique silks, exquisite pieces of furniture supporting priceless ornaments, and small,
charming, perfumed rooms, created just for little parties of intimate friends, men who were famous and sought
after, whose homage roused every other woman's envious longings.
When she sat down for dinner at the round table covered with a three-days-old cloth, opposite her husband,
who took the cover off the soup-tureen, exclaiming delightedly: "Aha! Scotch broth! What could be better?" she
imagined delicate meals, gleaming silver, tapestries peopling the walls with folk of a past age and strange birds
in fairy forests; she imagined delicate food served in marvelous dishes, murmured gallantries, listened to with
an inscrutable smile as one trifled with the rosy flesh of trout or wings of asparagus chicken.
She had no clothes, no jewels, nothing. And these were the only things she loved; she felt that she was made
for them. She had longed so eagerly to charm, to be desired, to be wildly attractive and sought after.
She had a rich friend, an old school friend whom she refused to visit, because she suffered so keenly when
she returned home. She would weep whole days, with grief, regret, despair, and misery.
*
One evening her husband came home with an exultant air, holding a large envelope in his hand.
"Here's something for you," he said.
Swiftly she tore the paper and drew out a printed card on which were these words:
"The Minister of Education and Madame Ramponneau request the pleasure of the company of Monsieur and
Madame Loisel at the Ministry on the evening of Monday, January the 18th."
Instead of being delighted, as her husband hoped, she flung the invitation petulantly across the table,
murmuring:
"What do you want me to do with this?"
"Why, darling, I thought you'd be pleased. You never go out, and this is a great occasion. I had tremendous
trouble to get it. Every one wants one; it's very select, and very few go to the clerks. You'll see all the really big
people there."
She looked at him out of furious eyes, and said impatiently: "And what do you suppose I am to wear at such
an affair?"
He had not thought about it; he stammered:
"Why, the dress you go to the theatre in. It looks very nice, to me . . ."
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He stopped, stupefied and utterly at a loss when he saw that his wife was beginning to cry. Two large tears
ran slowly down from the corners of her eyes towards the corners of her mouth.
"What's the matter with you? What's the matter with you?" he faltered.
But with a violent effort she overcame her grief and replied in a calm voice, wiping her wet cheeks:
"Nothing. Only I haven't a dress and so I can't go to this party. Give your invitation to some friend of yours
whose wife will be turned out better than I shall."
He was heart-broken.
"Look here, Mathilde," he persisted. "What would be the cost of a suitable dress, which you could use on
other occasions as well, something very simple?"
She thought for several seconds, reckoning up prices and also wondering for how large a sum she could ask
without bringing upon herself an immediate refusal and an exclamation of horror from the careful-minded clerk.
At last she replied with some hesitation:
"I don't know exactly, but I think I could do it on four hundred francs."
He grew slightly pale, for this was exactly the amount he had been saving for a gun, intending to get a little
shooting next summer on the plain of Nanterre with some friends who went lark-shooting there on Sundays.
Nevertheless he said: "Very well. I'll give you four hundred francs. But try and get a really nice dress with
the money."
The day of the party drew near, and Madame Loisel seemed sad, uneasy and anxious. Her dress was ready,
however. One evening her husband said to her:
"What's the matter with you? You've been very odd for the last three days."
"I'm utterly miserable at not having any jewels, not a single stone, to wear," she replied. "I shall look
absolutely no one. I would almost rather not go to the party."
"Wear flowers," he said. "They're very smart at this time of the year. For ten francs you could get two or
three gorgeous roses."
She was not convinced.
"No . . . there's nothing so humiliating as looking poor in the middle of a lot of rich women."
"How stupid you are!" exclaimed her husband. "Go and see Madame Forestier and ask her to lend you some
jewels. You know her quite well enough for that."
She uttered a cry of delight.
"That's true. I never thought of it."
Next day she went to see her friend and told her her trouble.
Madame Forestier went to her dressing-table, took up a large box, brought it to Madame Loisel, opened it,
and said:
"Choose, my dear."
First she saw some bracelets, then a pearl necklace, then a Venetian cross in gold and gems, of exquisite
workmanship. She tried the effect of the jewels before the mirror, hesitating, unable to make up her mind to
leave them, to give them up. She kept on asking:
"Haven't you anything else?"
"Yes. Look for yourself. I don't know what you would like best."
Suddenly she discovered, in a black satin case, a superb diamond necklace; her heart began to beat
covetously. Her hands trembled as she lifted it. She fastened it round her neck, upon her high dress, and
remained in ecstasy at sight of herself.
Then, with hesitation, she asked in anguish:
"Could you lend me this, just this alone?"
"Yes, of course."
She flung herself on her friend's breast, embraced her frenziedly, and went away with her treasure. The day
of the party arrived. Madame Loisel was a success. She was the prettiest woman present, elegant, graceful,
smiling, and quite above herself with happiness. All the men stared at her, inquired her name, and asked to be
introduced to her. All the Under-Secretaries of State were eager to waltz with her. The Minister noticed her.
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She danced madly, ecstatically, drunk with pleasure, with no thought for anything, in the triumph of her
beauty, in the pride of her success, in a cloud of happiness made up of this universal homage and admiration, of
the desires she had aroused, of the completeness of a victory so dear to her feminine heart.
She left about four o'clock in the morning. Since midnight her husband had been dozing in a deserted little
room, in company with three other men whose wives were having a good time. He threw over her shoulders the
garments he had brought for them to go home in, modest everyday clothes, whose poverty clashed with the
beauty of the ball-dress. She was conscious of this and was anxious to hurry away, so that she should not be
noticed by the other women putting on their costly furs.
Loisel restrained her.
"Wait a little. You'll catch cold in the open. I'm going to fetch a cab."
But she did not listen to him and rapidly descended the staircase. When they were out in the street they could
not find a cab; they began to look for one, shouting at the drivers whom they saw passing in the distance.
They walked down towards the Seine, desperate and shivering. At last they found on the quay one of those
old night prowling carriages which are only to be seen in Paris after dark, as though they were ashamed of their
shabbiness in the daylight.
It brought them to their door in the Rue des Martyrs, and sadly they walked up to their own apartment. It was
the end, for her. As for him, he was thinking that he must be at the office at ten.
She took off the garments in which she had wrapped her shoulders, so as to see herself in all her glory before
the mirror. But suddenly she uttered a cry. The necklace was no longer round her neck!
"What's the matter with you?" asked her husband, already half undressed.
She turned towards him in the utmost distress.
"I . . . I . . . I've no longer got Madame Forestier's necklace. . . ."
He started with astonishment.
"What! . . . Impossible!"
They searched in the folds of her dress, in the folds of the coat, in the pockets, everywhere. They could not
find it.
"Are you sure that you still had it on when you came away from the ball?" he asked.
"Yes, I touched it in the hall at the Ministry."
"But if you had lost it in the street, we should have heard it fall."
"Yes. Probably we should. Did you take the number of the cab?"
"No. You didn't notice it, did you?"
"No."
They stared at one another, dumbfounded. At last Loisel put on his clothes again.
"I'll go over all the ground we walked," he said, "and see if I can't find it."
And he went out. She remained in her evening clothes, lacking strength to get into bed, huddled on a chair,
without volition or power of thought.
Her husband returned about seven. He had found nothing.
He went to the police station, to the newspapers, to offer a reward, to the cab companies, everywhere that a
ray of hope impelled him.
She waited all day long, in the same state of bewilderment at this fearful catastrophe.
Loisel came home at night, his face lined and pale; he had discovered nothing.
"You must write to your friend," he said, "and tell her that you've broken the clasp of her necklace and are
getting it mended. That will give us time to look about us."
She wrote at his dictation.
*
By the end of a week they had lost all hope.
Loisel, who had aged five years, declared:
"We must see about replacing the diamonds."
Next day they took the box which had held the necklace and went to the jewelers whose name was inside. He
consulted his books.
"It was not I who sold this necklace, Madame; I must have merely supplied the clasp."
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Then they went from jeweler to jeweler, searching for another necklace like the first, consulting their
memories, both ill with remorse and anguish of mind.
In a shop at the Palais-Royal they found a string of diamonds which seemed to them exactly like the one they
were looking for. It was worth forty thousand francs. They were allowed to have it for thirty-six thousand.
They begged the jeweler not to sell it for three days. And they arranged matters on the understanding that it
would be taken back for thirty-four thousand francs, if the first one were found before the end of February.
Loisel possessed eighteen thousand francs left to him by his father. He intended to borrow the rest.
He did borrow it, getting a thousand from one man, five hundred from another, five louis here, three louis
there. He gave notes of hand, entered into ruinous agreements, did business with usurers and the whole tribe of
money-lenders. He mortgaged the whole remaining years of his existence, risked his signature without even
knowing if he could honor it, and, appalled at the agonizing face of the future, at the black misery about to fall
upon him, at the prospect of every possible physical privation and moral torture, he went to get the new
necklace and put down upon the jeweler's counter thirty-six thousand francs.
When Madame Loisel took back the necklace to Madame Forestier, the latter said to her in a chilly voice:
"You ought to have brought it back sooner; I might have needed it."
She did not, as her friend had feared, open the case. If she had noticed the substitution, what would she have
thought? What would she have said? Would she not have taken her for a thief?
*
Madame Loisel came to know the ghastly life of abject poverty. From the very first she played her part
heroically. This fearful debt must be paid off. She would pay it. The servant was dismissed. They changed their
flat; they took a garret under the roof.
She came to know the heavy work of the house, the hateful duties of the kitchen. She washed the plates,
wearing out her pink nails on the coarse pottery and the bottoms of pans. She washed the dirty linen, the shirts
and dish-cloths, and hung them out to dry on a string; every morning she took the dustbin down into the street
and carried up the water, stopping on each landing to get her breath. And, clad like a poor woman, she went to
the fruitier, to the grocer, to the butcher, a basket on her arm, haggling, insulted, fighting for every wretched
halfpenny of her money.
Every month notes had to be paid off, others renewed, time gained.
Her husband worked in the evenings at putting straight a merchant's accounts, and often at night he did
copying at two pence-halfpenny a page.
And this life lasted ten years.
At the end of ten years everything was paid off, everything, the usurer's charges and the accumulation of
superimposed interest.
Madame Loisel looked old now. She had become like all the other strong, hard, coarse women of poor
households. Her hair was badly done, her skirts were awry, her hands were red. She spoke in a shrill voice, and
the water slopped all over the floor when she scrubbed it. But sometimes, when her husband was at the office,
she sat down by the window and thought of that evening long ago, of the ball at which she had been so beautiful
and so much admired.
What would have happened if she had never lost those jewels. Who knows? Who knows? How strange life
is, how fickle! How little is needed to ruin or to save!
One Sunday, as she had gone for a walk along the Champs-Elysees to freshen herself after the labours of the
week, she caught sight suddenly of a woman who was taking a child out for a walk. It was Madame Forestier,
still young, still beautiful, still attractive.
Madame Loisel was conscious of some emotion. Should she speak to her? Yes, certainly. And now that she
had paid, she would tell her all. Why not?
She went up to her.
"Good morning, Jeanne."
The other did not recognize her, and was surprised at being thus familiarly addressed by a poor woman.
"But . . . Madame . . ." she stammered. "I don't know . . . you must be making a mistake."
"No . . . I am Mathilde Loisel."
Her friend uttered a cry.
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"Oh! . . . my poor Mathilde, how you have changed! . . ."
"Yes, I've had some hard times since I saw you last; and many sorrows . . . and all on your account."
"On my account! . . . How was that?"
"You remember the diamond necklace you lent me for the ball at the Ministry?"
"Yes. Well?"
"Well, I lost it."
"How could you? Why, you brought it back."
"I brought you another one just like it. And for the last ten years we have been paying for it. You realise it
wasn't easy for us; we had no money. . . . Well, it's paid for at last, and I'm glad indeed."
Madame Forestier had halted.
"You say you bought a diamond necklace to replace mine?"
"Yes. You hadn't noticed it? They were very much alike."
And she smiled in proud and innocent happiness.
Madame Forestier, deeply moved, took her two hands.
"Oh, my poor Mathilde! But mine was imitation. It was worth at the very most five hundred francs! . . . "
“The Gift of the Magi”
by O. Henry
One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one
and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with
the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and
eighty- seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.
There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it.
Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles
predominating.
While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second, take a look at
the home. A furnished flat at $8 per week. It did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on
the lookout for the mendicancy squad.
In the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no letter would go, and an electric button from which
no mortal finger could coax a ring. Also appertaining thereunto was a card bearing the name "Mr. James
Dillingham Young."
The "Dillingham" had been flung to the breeze during a former period of prosperity when its possessor
was being paid $30 per week. Now, when the income was shrunk to $20, though, they were thinking seriously
of contracting to a modest and unassuming D. But whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and
reached his flat above he was called "Jim" and greatly hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young, already
introduced to you as Della. Which is all very good.
Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag. She stood by the window and
looked out dully at a gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray backyard. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and
she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she could for months,
with this result. Twenty dollars a week doesn't go far. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated. They
always are. Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for
something nice for him. Something fine and rare and sterling--something just a little bit near to being worthy of
the honor of being owned by Jim.
There was a pier-glass between the windows of the room. Perhaps you have seen a pier-glass in an $8
flat. A very thin and very agile person may, by observing his reflection in a rapid sequence of longitudinal
strips, obtain a fairly accurate conception of his looks. Della, being slender, had mastered the art.
Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the glass. her eyes were shining brilliantly, but her
face had lost its color within twenty seconds. Rapidly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length.
Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride. One
was Jim's gold watch that had been his father's and his grandfather's. The other was Della's hair. Had the queen
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of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window some day to dry
just to depreciate Her Majesty's jewels and gifts. Had King Solomon been the janitor, with all his treasures piled
up in the basement, Jim would have pulled out his watch every time he passed, just to see him pluck at his beard
from envy.
So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters. It
reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her. And then she did it up again nervously and
quickly. Once she faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet.
On went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat. With a whirl of skirts and with the brilliant
sparkle still in her eyes, she fluttered out the door and down the stairs to the street.
Where she stopped the sign read: "Mne. Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds." One flight up Della ran,
and collected herself, panting. Madame, large, too white, chilly, hardly looked the "Sofronie."
"Will you buy my hair?" asked Della.
"I buy hair," said Madame. "Take yer hat off and let's have a sight at the looks of it."
Down rippled the brown cascade.
"Twenty dollars," said Madame, lifting the mass with a practised hand.
"Give it to me quick," said Della.
Oh, and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings. Forget the hashed metaphor. She was ransacking
the stores for Jim's present.
She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. There was no other like it in any of
the stores, and she had turned all of them inside out. It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design,
properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation--as all good things
should do. It was even worthy of The Watch. As soon as she saw it she knew that it must be Jim's. It was like
him. Quietness and value--the description applied to both. Twenty-one dollars they took from her for it, and she
hurried home with the 87 cents. With that chain on his watch Jim might be properly anxious about the time in
any company. Grand as the watch was, he sometimes looked at it on the sly on account of the old leather strap
that he used in place of a chain.
When Della reached home her intoxication gave way a little to prudence and reason. She got out her
curling irons and lighted the gas and went to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love.
Which is always a tremendous task, dear friends--a mammoth task.
Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her look wonderfully
like a truant schoolboy. She looked at her reflection in the mirror long, carefully, and critically.
"If Jim doesn't kill me," she said to herself, "before he takes a second look at me, he'll say I look like a Coney
Island chorus girl. But what could I do--oh! what could I do with a dollar and eighty- seven cents?"
At 7 o'clock the coffee was made and the frying-pan was on the back of the stove hot and ready to cook the
chops.
Jim was never late. Della doubled the fob chain in her hand and sat on the corner of the table near the
door that he always entered. Then she heard his step on the stair away down on the first flight, and she turned
white for just a moment. She had a habit for saying little silent prayer about the simplest everyday things, and
now she whispered: "Please God, make him think I am still pretty."
The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. He looked thin and very serious. Poor fellow, he was
only twenty-two--and to be burdened with a family! He needed a new overcoat and he was without gloves.
Jim stopped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail. His eyes were fixed upon
Della, and there was an expression in them that she could not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, nor
surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the sentiments that she had been prepared for. He simply stared
at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on his face.
Della wriggled off the table and went for him.
"Jim, darling," she cried, "don't look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold because I couldn't
have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. It'll grow out again--you won't mind, will you? I
just had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say `Merry Christmas!' Jim, and let's be happy. You don't know
what a nice-- what a beautiful, nice gift I've got for you."
"You've cut off your hair?" asked Jim, laboriously, as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet even
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after the hardest mental labor.
"Cut it off and sold it," said Della. "Don't you like me just as well, anyhow? I'm me without my hair,
ain't I?"
Jim looked about the room curiously.
"You say your hair is gone?" he said, with an air almost of idiocy.
"You needn't look for it," said Della. "It's sold, I tell you--sold and gone, too. It's Christmas Eve, boy. Be
good to me, for it went for you. Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered," she went on with sudden serious
sweetness, "but nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I put the chops on, Jim?"
Out of his trance Jim seemed quickly to wake. He enfolded his Della. For ten seconds let us regard with discreet
scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction. Eight dollars a week or a million a year--what is the
difference? A mathematician or a wit would give you the wrong answer. The magi brought valuable gifts, but
that was not among them. This dark assertion will be illuminated later on.
Jim drew a package from his overcoat pocket and threw it upon the table.
"Don't make any mistake, Dell," he said, "about me. I don't think there's anything in the way of a haircut
or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less. But if you'll unwrap that package you may
see why you had me going a while at first."
White fingers and nimble tore at the string and paper. And then an ecstatic scream of joy; and then, alas!
a quick feminine change to hysterical tears and wails, necessitating the immediate employment of all the
comforting powers of the lord of the flat.
For there lay The Combs--the set of combs, side and back, that Della had worshipped long in a
Broadway window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise shell, with jewelled rims--just the shade to wear in the
beautiful vanished hair. They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had simply craved and yearned
over them without the least hope of possession. And now, they were hers, but the tresses that should have
adorned the coveted adornments were gone.
But she hugged them to her bosom, and at length she was able to look up with dim eyes and a smile and
say: "My hair grows so fast, Jim!"
And them Della leaped up like a little singed cat and cried, "Oh, oh!"
Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present. She held it out to him eagerly upon her open palm. The dull
precious metal seemed to flash with a reflection of her bright and ardent spirit.
"Isn't it a dandy, Jim? I hunted all over town to find it. You'll have to look at the time a hundred times a
day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it."
Instead of obeying, Jim tumbled down on the couch and put his hands under the back of his head and
smiled.
"Dell," said he, "let's put our Christmas presents away and keep 'em a while. They're too nice to use just
at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now suppose you put the chops on."
The magi, as you know, were wise men--wonderfully wise men--who brought gifts to the Babe in the
manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones,
possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the
uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest
treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these
two were the wisest. O all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They
are the magi.
“The Necklace” Task 1 – Comprehension. Respond to each question in complete sentences. (10 points)
1. Describe Mme Loisel's reaction on reading the invitation. (2 points)
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2. Why was Mme Loisel anxious to hurry away from the ball? (2 points)
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3. What efforts were made to find Mme Forestier's necklace? (2 points)
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4. Describe in your own words how the Loisels' life changed after they had paid for the new necklace. (2
points)
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5. What was Mme Forestier's reaction when the necklace was returned? (2 points)
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“The Necklace” Task 2 - Making Inferences – Respond to the following questions by giving evidence from
the story. (15 points)
1. Why was Mathilde unhappy with her life at the opening of the story? (3 points)
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2. Why were the Loisels allowed to buy the new necklace for less than the asking price? (3 points)
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3. Why do you think Mme Forestier never contacted Mme Loiser after the 'return' of her necklace? (3 points)
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4. Do you think M. Loisel was content with his life before the ball took place? (3 points)
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5. How did M. Loisel contribute to the cost of the new necklace? (3 points)
__________________________________________________________________________________________
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“The Gift of the Magi” Task 3 – Comprehension. Respond to each question in complete sentences. (10
points)
1. Why was Della only able to save $1.87? (2 points)
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
2. What does Della sell in order to buy Jim a present? How much does she get? (2 points)
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Using a quote from the text, describe the present that Della picked for Jim and why she picked it. (2 points)
__________________________________________________________________________________________
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4. How does Jim react to Della’s haircut? (2 points)
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5. Why did Della “scream from joy and then change to hysterical tears” when she opened Jim’s present? (2
points)
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“The Gift of the Magi” Task 4 - Making Inferences – Respond to the following questions by giving
evidence from the story; answer in complete sentences. (15 points)
1. Are the couple in the story rich or poor? How do you know? (3 points)
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
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2. How did Della greet her husband every time he came home? What does this greeting tell you about their
relationship? (3 points)
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
3. “Della looked out her window at the grey cat walking a grey fence in her grey backyard.” How does the
author use color to express Della’s mood in this quote? (3 points)
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4. Are Della and Jim wise like magi? Why or why not? (3 points)
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5. Why is the ending of this story ironic? (3 points)
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“The Necklace” Task 5—Multiple Choice – Answer each of the following questions on the SCANTRON
provided. Use a no. 2 pencil to completely bubble in your answer. When you are sure of your answer, place an
X over your bubble mark IN INK. (1 point each—20 total)
1. Guy de Maupassant describes his main character for several paragraphs but does not identify her by name
until later in the short story. Instead, he repeatedly refers to the woman as “she.” His initial depiction of the
woman identifies her as __________.
a. happy
b. dissatisfied
c. content
d. religious
2. The main character is portrayed as ________ and __________.
a. pretty, charming
b. sad, homely
c. simple, polite
d. unattractive, obnoxious
3. de Maupassant describes French society of the time: “… women have no family rank or social class. With
them, beauty, grace and charm take the place of birth and breeding. Their natural poise, their instinctive good
taste, and their mental cleverness are the sole guiding principles which make daughters of the common people
the equals of ladies of high society. … as if by accident or fate, [she was] born into a family of _________.”
a. farmers
b. ministers
c. clerks
d. teachers
4. Mathilde Loisel “grieves” over the condition of her apartment: the walls, the chairs, the draperies, etc. She
even has distain for her ________,
a. butcher
b. doorman
c. housekeeper
d. seamstress
5. The fashionable dinner parties in Mathilde’s mind “of delicious dishes served on wonderful china … rosy
flesh of trout and wings of grouse” are a sharp contrast to the _______ she serves her husband at supper.
a. stew
b. sandwiches
c. cereal
d. salad
6. Mathilde has “a well-to-do friend, a classmate of convent-school days,” but she rarely visits her friend
because afterward Mathilde feels _________.
a. exhausted
b. depressed
c. disrespected
d. uncertain
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7. Mathilde’s husband is excited when he comes home with an invitation to “an evening reception at the
Ministerial Mansion.” He is certain his wife will be just as thrilled. However, much to his surprise, “she
scornfully tossed the invitation on the table, murmuring, ‘What good is that to me?’ ” Mathilde is irritated and
impatient because she does not have _________.
a. an evening dress b. a stylish bonnet
c. dancing shoes
d. horses and a coach
8. Selflessly, her husband offers her 400 francs, the amount of money he has saved to buy a new ________.
a. tool chest
b. hunting rifle
c. pool table
d. easel and paint set
9. Mathilde says she needs to “have a jewel or gem” to wear to the reception or she will “look like a pauper.”
Her husband suggests wearing ________, but she replies that will merely draw attention to their poverty, and
“There’s nothing more humiliating than to look poor among a lot of rich women.”
a. a faux fur
b. flowers
c. bracelets
d. bow shaped hair pins
10. Mathilde likes her husband’s next suggestion, to borrow a piece of jewelry from her wealthy friend. Mme.
Forestier is happy to lend her friend something fancy to wear. At first Mathilde cannot decide which piece to
choose, but soon after finds a perfect ________ necklace “in a black satin box.”
a. opal
b. pearl
c. diamond
d. heart
11. From midnight to 4 am her husband ________.
a. drinks
b. flirts
c. dozes
d. talks to other guests
12. When it is finally time to go home, Mathilde runs “rapidly down the stairs.” Her husband calls for her to
slow down, but Mathilde dashes quickly into the street because she does not want the wealthy women to see her
_________.
a. shabby wrap
b. worn out shoes
c. old horse cart
d. husband’s overcoat
13. Upon their arrival home, Mathilde discovers she has lost the borrowed necklace. They look everywhere
they can think of, but cannot find it. Her husband retraces their steps, but cannot locate the lost necklace. They
think Mathilde probably lost it in the ________.
a. dining room
b. dance hall
c. carriage
d. street
14. The husband goes to “the police station, to the newspapers to post a reward, to the cab companies,
everywhere the slightest hope drove him.” After a week, Mathilde writes a letter to her friend saying she are
having the necklace _________, and she will return it shortly.
a. appraised
b. repaired
c. restrung
d. professionally cleaned
15. Mathilde returns the replacement necklace, and luckily, her friend does not notice the substitution; she does
not even open the box. However, Mme. Forestier greets Mathilde “frostily,” saying ______________.
a. Mathilde should have visited more often
b. she might have needed the necklace sooner
c. the weather is too cold to stay and chat
d. friends should not borrow personal items
16. The husband uses his inheritance money to buy the replacement necklace. He also takes out several loans
that he is not even sure he will be able to repay. Additionally, the husband works evening and night jobs.
Mathilde also helps repay the loans by __________.
a. firing the maid
b. doing housework c. renting a smaller apartment
d. all of these
17. There is a drastic change in Mathilde’s attitude. Working, “she played her part with sudden heroism.” Her
outlook at the beginning of the story is a ___________ to how she acts after she realizes she must help repay the
debts.
a. comparison
b. contrast
c. flashback
d. foreshadow
18. After _______ years the loans are finally repaid.
a. five
b. ten
c. twenty
d. thirty
19. When Mathilde meets her old friend by chance several years later, Mme. Forestier does not recognize her
Mathilde because the years of hard work have not been kind to her. Mathilde tells her old friend the truth about
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the necklace with “a proud and simple joy.” Mme. Forestier is astounded that Mathilde replaced the lost
necklace with an identical one because the borrowed necklace was made of _______.
a. lead
b. tin
c. paste
d. glass
20. The original necklace is ________.
a. found years later b. stolen property
c. never found
d. returned to the jeweler
“The Gift of the Magi” Task 6—Multiple Choice – Answer each of the following questions on the
SCANTRON provided. Use a no. 2 pencil to completely bubble in your answer. When you are sure of your
answer, place an X over your bubble mark IN INK. (1 point each—20 total)
21. “There was nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl.” This quotation shows
Della’s sense of __________.
a. responsibility
b. anger
c. grief
d. helplessness
22. “Life is made up of sobs, sniffles and smiles …” is an example of ____.
a. simile
b. personification
c. alliteration
d. onomatopoeia
23. When O. Henry describes the entrance to the apartment building, his depiction of the foyer further points
out the couple’s destitution. “In the vestibule below was a letter box into which no letter would go, and an
electric button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring.” The “electric button” is the doorbell that does
not ring because ________.
a. they have no visitors
b. it is broken
c. it was never installed
24. Jim’s full name is “Mr. James Dillingham Young.” “The letters of ‘Dillingham’ looked blurred, as though
they were thinking seriously of contracting to a modest and unassuming D.” This quote is an example of ____.
a. simile
b. personification
c. alliteration
d. onomatopoeia
25. Jim’s gold watch, his finest possession, is a family heirloom, inherited from his _______.
a. father
b. uncle
c. godfather
d. father-in-law
26. Della’s finest possession is her hair. “Had the Queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della
would have let her hair hang out the window … just to depreciate Her Majesty’s jewels and gifts.” This biblical
reference alludes to a famous ancient Arabian monarch known for her wealth and beauty. The purpose of this
comparison is to show how _____ Della’s hair is.
a. long
b. magnificent
c. shiny
d. blond
27. O. Henry also includes a biblical reference concerning Jim’s watch. Jim’s gold watch is so exquisite even
King _______ would “pluck at his beard in envy.”
a. Herod
b. David
c. Solomon
d. Saul
28. Della looks into the “pier glass between the windows of the room. … [her] beautiful hair fell about her,
rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters.” This quotation contains an example of ______.
a. simile
b. personification
c. alliteration
d. onomatopoeia
29. Della’s hair reaches her ________.
a. shoulders
b. waist
c. knees
d. calves
30. Della decides to go to Madame Sofronie, the owner of a hair and wig shop. Della sells her hair for _____.
a. $10
b. $20
c. $50
d. $100
31. Della tells Madame Sofronie, “Give it to me quick,” because Della does not want to ________.
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a. cry
b. tell Jim
c. waste time
d. change her mind
32. After getting the money from selling her hair, Della looks for two hours to find the perfect Christmas gift
for Jim, “a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone,
and not by meretricious ornamentation.” The fob reminds Della of both Jim and his watch; the chain possesses
“quietness and value;” its appeal and worth are proclaimed in its ________ and unadorned design.
a. intricate
b. plain
c. glossy
d. expensive
33. Della wants a proper watch chain for Jim because his beautiful watch only has an old __________.
a. leather strap
b. worn ribbon
c. faded band
d. broken buckle
34. In an attempt to minimize her hair cut, Della uses a curling iron. O. Henry uses a simile to describe the
finished product. “Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her look
wonderfully like a __________.”
a. child’s doll
b. scared porcupine c. truant schoolboy d. comical puppet
35. When Jim comes home from work, the description of his clothing also accentuates the young couple’s
poverty; “He needed a new overcoat and he was without _______.”
a. a scarf
b. boots
c. gloves
d. all of these
36. Jim finds it hard to believe Della has cut and sold her hair. Almost in shock, he asks about her hair cut
more than once. Initially, Della thinks her husband does not like the way she looks without her long hair. To
reassure him, she repeatedly says she’ll _________.
a. buy a wig
b. wear a scarf
c. grow it out again d. all of these
37. When Della opens her present, she understands Jim’s reaction to her haircut. Jim has bought the expensive
set of ______ of “pure tortoise shell, with jeweled rims” she has admired and wanted for quite some time.
a. headbands
b. combs
c. hair pins
d. all of these
38. After Della opens her present, she gives Jim the watch chain and wants him to put his watch on it right
away. Instead he sits down on the couch and smiles. He then tells her he sold his watch to buy her present. O.
Henry describes his story as “the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children who most unwisely sacrificed for
each other [their] greatest treasures.” Then he states, “Of all who give gifts these two were the wisest.” This
apparent contradiction reflects the Magi, the Wise Men, who brought gifts of great _______ to the Baby Jesus.
a. value
b. appeal
c. wisdom
d. usefulness
39. Jim and Della’s dinner, _______, could possibly be a pun on her haircut.
a. soup
b. porridge
c. mash
d. chops
40. The theme of this story is that Jim and Della’s love for each other is much more valuable than any _______.
a. material gift
b. expensive dinner c. person’s opinion d. verbal expressions of love
Task 7: Write your response to question I. and II. on a separate sheet of paper. Follow the format
provided for you on page 18. Use the stories read in this packet to answer the questions. (20 points each)
I. Write a well-developed paragraph in which you use ideas from both passages to establish a controlling
idea about poverty. Develop your controlling idea using specific examples and details from each
passage.
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II. Choose a specific literary element (e.g. characterization, structure, point of view, etc.) or literary
technique (e.g. symbolism, irony, figurative language, etc.) used by one of the authors. Using
specific details from that passage, in a well-developed paragraph, show how the author uses that
element or literary technique to develop the passage.
Final Task—Critical Lens Essay (50 points):
Write a critical essay in which you discuss two works of literature you have read this semester from the
particular perspective of the statement that is provided for you in the Critical Lens. You may use the works
covered in this packet for your essay. Follow the format provided for you on page 19. In your essay of at least
5 paragraphs, provide a valid interpretation of the statement, agree or disagree with the statement as you
have interpreted it, and support your opinion using specific references to appropriate literary elements from
the two works. You may use scrap paper to plan your response, but make sure you hand in a neat, legible,
response on looseleaf paper or typed. Hand in any scrap/drafts you write.
Critical Lens:
“In this world goodness is destined to be defeated.”
--Walker Percy
The Moviegoer, 1962
Guidelines:
Be sure to
• Provide a valid interpretation of the critical lens that clearly establishes the criteria for analysis
• Indicate whether you agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it
• Choose two works you have read that you believe best support your opinion
• Use the criteria suggested by the critical lens to analyze the works you have chosen
• Avoid plot summary. Instead, use specific references to appropriate literary elements (for example: theme,
characterization, setting, point of view) to develop your analysis
• Organize your ideas in a unified and coherent manner
• Specify the titles and authors of the literature you choose
• Follow the conventions of standard written English
Final Grade : Total _____ / 180 X 100 = ______%
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Literary Terms
Alliteration – The repetition of an initial sound in tow or more words in a phrase, line, or sentence of a poem.
Characterization – the creation of the image of imaginary persons. Generates plot and is revealed by actions, speech,
thoughts, physical appearance, and other characters’ thoughts or words about him/her.
Climax – The moment in a work of literature when the action reaches its highest point of intensity.
Conflict—See below
Denouement – the outcome or resolution to a plot. Any necessary, or as yet unmade, clarifications are made.
Dialect – the language of a particular district, class, or group of persons. Indicates where a person is from and their
social status.
Euphemism – the use of an indirect, mild, delicate, inoffensive, or vague word in the place of an otherwise offensive or
unpleasant one.
Exposition – beginning portion of a story in which background information about characters and situation is set forth.
The back story…what you need to know for the story to take place.
Flashback – a section in a literary work which presents a series of events that occurred earlier than the current time in
the work.
Foreshadowing – a hint at events which will occur later in the story.
Gothic – style of fiction that is characterized by the use of a murky atmosphere, horror, gloom. Can be grotesque and
may incorporate the use of medieval settings.
Hyperbole – obvious and deliberate exaggeration or an extravagant statement. Not to be taken literally.
Imagery – the forming of mental images, figures, or pictures of actions, persons, or objects in the mind’s eye. Can be
incorporated with all five senses.
Interior Conflict – The struggle within the mind of a character. Can be over a problem, guilt, action.
Interior Monologue – represents the interior thoughts of a character.
Irony – when the literal meaning of a word or statement is the exact opposite of what the intended meaning is.
Metaphor – when two objects or ideas are compared directly, and without the use of like or as. (My mother, the
anchor of our family.)
Mood – the emotion created in a reader from a work of literature.
Onomatopoeia – when a word is spelled like it sounds. “Buzz.” “Bang.”
Personification – a figure of speech in which animals, ideas, and inanimate objects are endowed with human form,
character, traits, or sensibilities.
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Point of View – the vantage point from which a story is told. First Person – the narrator is part of the action and uses
pronouns like “I,” “me.” Second Person – the narrator uses the pronoun “you.” Third Person – the narrator is an
outside observer and does not partake in the action and uses pronouns like “he,” “she,” “it,” and “they.” Can be limited
to reveal only his private thoughts or the private thoughts of one other. Or, can be omniscient, which provides the ability
to read and reveal the thoughts of every character.
Plot—See below
Simile – two things are compared using like or as.
Symbolism – when one idea, object, or abstraction not only stands for itself, but something larger or different.
Theme – The central idea in a literary work.
Tone – the emotional attitude toward the reader or toward the implied subject by the author.
PLOT – The plot is how the author arranges events to develop his basic idea; It is the sequence of events in a story or play. The
plot is a planned, logical series of events having a beginning, middle, and end. The short story usually has one plot so it can be read
in one sitting.
There are five essential parts of plot:
a) Introduction or Exposition - The beginning of the story where the characters and the setting is revealed.
b) Rising Action - This is where the events in the story become complicated and the CONFLICT in the story is revealed
(events between the introduction and climax).
c) Climax - This is the highest point of interest and the turning point of the story. The reader wonders what will happen
next; will the conflict be resolved or not?*
d) Falling action - The events and complications begin to resolve themselves. The reader knows what has happened
next and if the conflict was resolved or not (events between climax and denouement).
e) Denouement - This is the final outcome or untangling of events in the story.
*It is helpful to consider CLIMAX as a three-fold phenomenon: 1) the main character receives new information
2) accepts this information (realizes it but does not necessarily agree with it) 3) acts on this information (makes a
choice that will determine whether or not he/she gains his objective).
Special Techniques Used in Plot:
Suspense: excitement or tension
Foreshadowing: hint or clue about what will happen in story
Flashback: interrupts the normal sequence of events to tell about something that happened in the past
Surprise Ending: conclusion that reader does not expect
CONFLICT – Conflict is essential to plot. Without conflict there is no plot. It is the opposition of forces which ties one incident
to another and makes the plot move. Conflict is not merely limited to open arguments, rather it is any form of opposition that
faces the main character. Within a short story there may be only one central struggle, or there may be one dominant struggle
with many minor ones.
There are two main types of conflict that are broken down into 4 subcategories:
1) External - A struggle with a force outside one's self.
a. Man vs. Man (physical) - The leading character struggles with his physical strength against other men, forces
of nature, or animals.
b. Man vs. Circumstances (classical) - The leading character struggles against fate, or the circumstances of life
facing him/her.
c. Man vs. Society (social) - The leading character struggles against ideas, practices, or customs of other people.
2) Internal - A struggle within one's self; a person must make some decision, overcome pain, quiet their temper, resist an
urge, etc.
d. Man vs. Himself/Herself (psychological) - The leading character struggles with himself/herself; with his/her
own soul, ideas of right or wrong, physical limitations, choices, etc.
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